Easter (Великден) and the Production of Food in rural Bulgaria

Easter, or Velikden in Bulgarian (literally translates to 'Great Day') has some similarities to the American holiday but also some very interesting differences. People still dye and decorate eggs, eat a big meal with family and enjoy chocolate and sweets. On the other hand, what you're eating is probably from the family yard (meat and veg alike), they make waaaaay more eggs-40 or more per household and play a game where you try to crack your egg against someone elses in a sort of test of strength. It's a fun game and everyone plays it throughout the day-at each others houses or even running into friends while walking down the street. Oh yeah, and there is no Easter bunny or much commercialization at all for that matter-still focussed on Jesus' resurrection over here folks (although my family here isn't particularly religious). I've included some pictures of eggs and the lamb we ate in the early afternoon with family, friends and neighbors. I keep forgetting to take pictures of more food, but that is probably good since it would be looked at kind of strangely here.
I also attached some pictures of food production that many Bulgarians, or at least rural Bulgarians practice on a regular basis. A majority of the food they eat in this part of the country comes right out of the backyard, garden and farm. I hope you enjoy looking at what I see every day....чао чао! (Ciao Ciao!)

The eggs we decorated at the Velovi house...Hubavo! (best/beautiful)

Mariana's grandson holding an egg for the picture. We put many stickers on them, which was a common practice it seemed.

OK, so I took out a picture here that might be to much for some to stomach. For Easter, we slaughtered the second lamb since I arrived (the first was for Tsvetanitsa, a holiday and Tsvetan's name day-look it up if you don't know what a 'name day' is here). when Tsvetan and his son dispatched the first, I was in the shower and came out to find the aftermath. When the time came again for Easter, I made sure to let them know I wanted to watch the deed-an important thing to see I think to understand every aspect of what it is like to live with your food source. In any event, when the time came, they made sure to sharpen all of the blades extremely well, a humane precaution. Watching it was definently something I will never forget or regret. If it were possible, every American should try to see this act to understand what it requires to put meat on the table (and I dont mean mass-producing slaughterhouse machines because those are generally horrible I've heard). If you want a description or to see the picture, just let me know via email. It was powerful to say the least.
The next pictures are post slaughter-cleaning, preparing and the final product:

Mariana cleaning the intestines-very thouroughly! They clean all of the organs very well inside and out under water, then in heavy salt-water to purify followed by a very good boiling. Trust me, nothing icky remains. NEVER WASTE ANYTHING-head to tail people! Everything that is edible is cleaned, prepared and eaten. Also delicious!

The peeled onions that were later chopped and went with the rice and other spices/ingredients.

Mariana and Tsvetan dicing all of the cleaned, boiled and edible organs into very small pieces to add to the rice/onion/spices that were stuffed inside the empty lamb cavity for roasting. Just like a turkey in the states but with rice.

The finished product after hours of roasting and basting. The rice is still inside in this picture. After romoving the meat from the visible side, they open the rib cage and literally scoop out the amazingly flavorful rice with a big soup laddle. It was absolutely delicious and both times weve had it it was prepared a little differently. They are even slaughtering a third lamb this weekend for St. Georges Day (and Gergana's name day-Mariana's daughter who lives in town with her husband and sons). 

The next set of pictures are of them making Sirene, the every household cheese of Bulgaria(similar to a feta). The milk comes from their own sheep outside of town and it is treated with a coagulant and bacteria killing chemical before being sealed and stored overnight in the cold outside air.  In the morning it looks like this first picture and is poured into the cleaned and steralized mold:

Excess water falls down the shute and into the bucket for dumping later.

They put a lid on top and weigh it down with a bucket of water to press out as much water as possible while compacting the cheese. It sits like this for a few hours.

Afterward the lid is removed, the cheesecloth pulled back and they cut the cheese into large cubes. Tsvetan is there with the big pan, putting large grain salt on the removed cubes to pull out even more water while also keeping it bacteria free. We eat this cheese at every meal, not as a main course but it is always on the table.

Here, they are taking sheep or cow milk and making homemade Kiselo Milyako, or yogurt. It's funny, but to make yogurt you just take a steralized mason jar, put the milk in and add a spoonful of storebaught or previously stored homemade yogurt. The live cultures in the yogurt here will turn the new milk into yogurt itself within about 2 hours at room temperature in a dark place. Then, just refrigerate!  the taste is a lot more sour than the yogurt we are used to but you come to like it, especially with a good flaky sweet bread in the morning....Mmmmm!

That's all for now everyone, but as you can see, I'm learning not only Bulgarian, but how Bulgarians have survived for centuries off their land and passed down knowledge.